A scarecrow festival in King’s Sutton has raised more than £3,500 towards a new home for the village pre-school.

There were 38 scarecrows on display as well as other entertainment such as aerial acrobatics from Ye Olde Redtail Falconry display team, a dog show from Up ‘n’ Over dog training club and a Viking and Anglo-Saxon re-enacment village.

Kings Sutton Scarecrow Festival. Children enjoying zorbing. Picture by Kevin Kennedy. Not to be used in any other article. NNL-170926-094212001

Trustee Helen Woolner, said: “We had everything from beekeepers to Bill Oddie, from giant earth worms to solar powered weather systems. Thanks to everyone who took part and to all our local business sponsors and raffle prize donors – we couldn’t have raised all that money without your generous contributions.”

The winning scarecrows were the giant green man by GT MacFall, the hedgehog by Jake and Logan Brock and a tribute to Roald Dahl’s The Giraffe, the Peli and Me by the year two primary academy pupils.

The pre-school needs to raise £300,000 for a new building and is half-way there, with the festival’s profits bringing the total to £184,000. It needs to raise the rest by 2019, its 50th anniversary. Donate at www.mydonate.bt.com/charities/kingssuttonpreschool